Staffbase found that effective internal communication leads to a 40 percent increase in customer satisfaction, a 30 percent increase in profitability, and a 36 percent increase in the overall performance of a company.

However, there are plenty of myths and misconceptions about internal communications that may lower employee engagement and slow down your business.

In this blog post, we’ve picked 5 of the most common internal communication myths you need to forget right now if you want to take your business to the next level.

Are you ready? Let’s dive in!

Myth #1: Internal Communication Belongs to One Department

Your internal communication team is obviously responsible for crafting your internal communication strategy and making sure that everyone has a great understanding of the business overall and how they contribute to the company's bottom line.

Your IC managers implement and develop your internal communications and they make sure that employees get the right information at the right time. They are in charge of defining clear goals and objectives, crafting the IC strategy, and inspiring employees.

Let’s break down their main responsibilities as bellow:

Main Internal Communication Professionals’ Missions

Setting clear internal communications goals

Developing messages and setting the tone of voice

Segmenting internal audiences and finding the right channels to reach the right employees at the right time

Identifying the type of content that drives adoption throughout the organization

Ensuring that the IC strategy is aligned with the company’s mission statement

Enhancing dialogues in the workplace

Motivating and inspiring employees

Driving employee engagement through effective internal communications

Helping employees find meaning in their work

Helping employees understand how their work contributes to the company's success

Myth #3: Internal Communication Is a One-Way Street

We’ve asked IC experts to explain what internal communication is, take a look at the video below:

As explained by the IC experts we’ve interviewed, internal communication is not limited to sending out company information to the workforce. It’s all about informing, inspiring, connecting, engaging, and helping employees find meaning at work.

IC requires a great understanding of the organizational structure, decision-making process, and the context in which situations happen. That's why a good internal communications strategy involves dialogues and meaningful conversations in the workplace.

IC professionals have to ask questions and encourage employees to share key insights so they can get all the information they need to craft an effective internal communications strategy.

Myth #4: Internal and External Communications Are Two Different Worlds

FAULSE — internal and external communications are interconnected!

Your internal and external comms may be located in separate departments, but you need to make sure that your internal and external communications teams coordinate their efforts to craft a strong brand message.

What's more, don’t forget that the content you create for your external communications is relevant for your employees as well!

After all, your employees are your first customers: If you want them to believe in your product, you’ll need to get their buy-in!

To keep ahead of the competition, you have to make sure that the information you share internally is aligned with the brand message you send to the outside world.

What’s more, the information you communicate internally and the way you communicate it has a strong impact on your brand image overall (yes, your employees talk about your company before you even know it —welcome to the era of social media!).

The way we’re communicating is changing and you may want to take into consideration the interplay of external and internal communications to stay on top of your game!

Myth #5: You Don’t Need to Customize Your Internal Communications

Sharing the same information to your entire workforce is not the best way to engage with them!

Biggest internal communications challenges faced by businesses

Now, the question is: how to prevent your employees from feeling overwhelmed by information overload?

The answer is pretty simple: it's all about content distribution! Segment your internal audience and customize the content you internally to make sure that your employees get the right information at the right time.

Tailoring your internal communications is one of the best ways to support your team’s needs. And to do so, all you need to do is to adjust the information you communicate to your employees based on their role, location, the languages they speak, and the topics they are interested in.

Also, make sure your employees can customize their news feed so they only receive the information and materials they need.

Takeaways

Internal communications (IC) is key to growing your business. Your IC managers will help you enhance dialogues in the workplace all while inspiring your employees and helping them find meaning in their work.

Not only does an effective internal communications strategy help you ensure that all employees work collaboratively towards a common goal, it also drives employee engagement.

However, IC is not about sending over company information to the entire workforce, it involves segmenting your audience and tailoring your content according to your employees’ role in the organization and their location.

💡Want to learn more about internal communications? Sign up for our upcoming webinar where our CEO Roope Heinilä and Steve Hurst, Editorial Director at Engage Business Media, will explain how the workplace communication is evolving and how to drive employee engagement with the right employee communications apps 👇